Free Dark Spell by Gill Arbuthnott Page A

“with witchcraft. I’m a witch. I’m a freak. I’m dangerous.”
    Josh took her hand in his and looked at it more closely, trying to make sense of what he had just seen.
    He raised his head and looked at her white face.
    “You’re not a freak. You’re not dangerous. You say you’re a witch. Okay, maybe you
are
a witch – I don’t pretend to understand that bit – but you’re still Callie. You’re Callie, and you’re my friend. Tell me properly what’s going on, so I can try to help.”
    She sagged into his arms with relief.
    “You don’t think I’m mad? You don’t hate me? You’re still my friend, even though I did this?”
    Josh could feel her shaking in his arms. He had no idea what to do. He’d just have to make it up as he went along. He hugged her tighter.
    “Why would I hate you?” he said over her bent head. “Of course I’m still your friend. And of course I don’t think you’re mad. I
know
you are. I’ve known that since the day I met you, so why should it make any difference now?”
    “Oh, Josh, you don’t know what a relief it is to have told you.” She gave him an enormous hug, then stepped back, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
    “Let’s go downstairs,” said Josh, “and you can tell me exactly what’s going on, and then maybe we can work out what to do.” As he spoke, his mind was replaying events from last summer: things that had seemed inexplicable at the time, but suddenly made perfect sense if Callie was a witch. It made such perfect sense that he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it himself. Of course, he hadn’t thought of it himself because it was impossible.
    “Let’s go into the garden,” Callie said.
    Sitting in the sun, she told Josh everything: Evie’s broken arm, Rose’s coven, her training and the escalating disturbances taking place around her.
    “So now you know why it’s my fault.”
    Josh didn’t reply. The more he heard, the harder it became to disbelieve.
    “Josh?”
    He tried to reason his way through what he’d just seen and heard. “Why now? Why would this suddenly start
now
? You’ve known you’re a witch for months, haven’t you?”
    Callie nodded.
    “And you’re getting better at controlling things?”
    “Yes…”
    “It doesn’t make sense. Surely this would have happened when you had the power but you didn’t know how to use it, if it was you causing it?”
    “I… I don’t know.”
    “Has anything happened anywhere except your house?”
    “No. Just in the house.”
    “Well, if it was you, surely these things would happen wherever you were?”
    Callie shrugged. “I haven’t really been anywhere else since it started. Not for more than a couple of hours at a time.”
    Josh thought silently for a few minutes.
    “Okay,” he said. “Let’s try to clear up your room, then you call your parents and ask if you can stay with me and Mum at the cottages tonight. If nothing happens while you’re there, then it’s your house, not you, making these things happen.”
    “But what if something does happen?”
    “Then we’ll deal with it. But you’ve got to tell Rose what’s been happening.”
    Callie nodded. “I know. I thought I could sort it out myself, but…” She gave a rueful smile. “I’ll go and see her on the way round to the cottages.”
    Something else had occurred to Josh. “Do your parents know that you’re a witch? Wait – is your mum one too?”
    Callie gave a mirthless laugh. “Dad doesn’t know and Mum’s mortified. She’s not a witch and she’s ashamed of me and of Rose. She definitely thinks I’m a freak.”
    Josh wanted to protest that she couldn’t possibly, but something told him not to. Instead he stood up.
    “Right. Let’s sort your room out.”
    ***
    It took over an hour to get the bits of stone out and distribute them round the garden, mop up the puddleand clean the floor. At least water was no longer oozing from the wall. They moved a couple of posters and Callie’s desk to